Three Small Words
by xFadingMoonx
Summary: Naurto, Sakura, Sasuke.Three lives, three feelings, three hearts. A little love, revenge and hurt. OneShot
1. Sakura

Sakura sighed heavily and dropped the bursting plastic bags at her feet. A couple of stray oranges escaped and rolled away, but she could care less. Pulling out a brightly coloured hair tie, she bunched up her locks into a rough bun and started to dread hauling her groceries back home. Of course, it was perfectly ok for her best friends such as: Ino, Hinata, Tenten and even Temari, who already had boyfriends to do their dirty work for them. The pink-haired girl was still as single as she'd ever been.

Yes, she'd had previous boyfriends in the past that she'd dated and later worked out that it wasn't going to work. Her virginity was also lost somewhere along the line of her eighteenth birthday, but now she was slightly agitated that it might actually start to grow back soon.

Wanting to not put it off any longer, she clasped her hands around the handles of her bought items and unwillingly dragged them along the busy road. Not an easy task for one when everyone seemed to have spilled out onto the streets.

It was the day before the Hidden Leaf Village festival and almost all the residents on the small town were gathered in big groups. Laughing, putting up decorations and chatting. All except for the cherry blossom kunoichi who had no desire to join in with all the merriment.

At last she kicked open the front door of her medium-sized apartment and gladly dumped her shopping inside – deciding that she would unpack later.

"Hey guys." She directed her smile toward the small picture frame which stood on her coffee table. There were four figures crowded around in it. First towering over them all - a grey haired Kakashi with both of his hands on top of Naruto and Sasuke's heads as they both glared at each other. In the middle, was a small Sakura with a sweet smile on her face and the eagerness of their future in her eyes. This was a sort of ritual for her now, she did it almost every day when she came home from work or whatever. She was 22 years old and still felt that she needed to keep a hold on the past and was dubbed by Ino as a 'sad forehead'.

Sakura was brought from her thoughts to a fist banging at her door. She rolled her eyes and went to open it to the Kyuubi boy, his scent of ramen pratically wafting through the gaps and stinking out her apartment. Naruto grinned cheerfully when her pink head came into view.

"Sakura!"

In response, she groaned and clapped her hands over her ears. He surprisingly got the idea of what she was trying to say and lowered his volume of voice. His grin replaced itself with a serious glance.

"Why aren't you out enjoying yourself?" He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Are you ok?"

She smiled gratefully at the blonde's worry and gently patted the top of his head,

"Don't worry about me. I'm ok." 

He instantly perked up and invited himself in, leaving Sakura dumbstruck in the doorway. Kicking off his shoes and jumping on the sofa, he snatched up the nearest magazine and flicked lazily through the pages.

"Naruto, that's not Ninja Weekly," Sakura dug through the shopping bags and began to put her groceries away.

"I guessed – hey Sakura, so what's your current method of birth control?" He laughed and dodged to the side as a ladle came flying at his head. He held up the glossy page and pointed to it. "It's a quiz." Was his excuse.

Sakura smiled satisfyingly to herself as she unpacked her last item and threw herself down on the sofa beside him. Feeling that he was slightly nervous at being so close to her, she leaned even closer and snuggled into the crook of his neck, enjoying the fact that his face was now a tad shade darker than that of a tomato.

He himself, was having a hard time from preventing his arms winding round her shoulders of their own accord. Sakura inwardly smiled to herself, she too had never been this close to her best friend and nethertheless, a little tense herself. However, she was an artist at hiding her feelings, the same can't be said for the nearly-shaking-of-excitement-to-death boy next to her.

A grin spread out across her features as she snapped up the magazine from Naruto's fingers and tossed it into the rubbish bin next to her. Naruto – regaining his mind, rose up and smiled sheepishly, a light shade of pink graced his cheeks.

"So," Sakura plucked an apple from the countertop and settled herself on one of the matching pink stools. "Is there a reason you came?" 

The blonde shrugged and went to gaze out of the window,

"Nah, I just felt like seeing my favourite person.. Oh, and plus – I kinda made old lady Tsunade mad at me again." 

Sakura sighed,

"What did you do this time Naruto?"

"I.. Er..," he struggled to find the right words, but suddenly catching the glimpse of a major death glare that was being shot his way, he blushed a little more and looked away. "… I… I was peeking into… Into the girl's bath spa again." 

The very next thing he felt was a huge crash against his head and his eyes in stars. Whimpering, he glanced up to see Sakura cowering down above him.

"So much for 'favourite person'," she scoffed. "You just came here to escape Tsunade. You'd much rather be back looking at the naked women again..." 

"N-NO! I..No – I'd much rather be… With you!" 

Hearing these words, Sakura raised her eyebrows and swung round to meet his ocean blue gaze.

"Then I suggest that you stop acting like a pervert," she sighed. "Shouldn't you already know that by now, Naruto?"

He shrugged and rested his head on the back of his hands. His grin widened and he stared at her steadily.

"I don't care Sakura - not _one _of those women have a better body than you do!"

_Thump._

She returned to the kitchen until the sounds of his muffled cries of pain subsided. She leaned back on the counter a little and inwardly grinned at his compliment. Damn.. She hated it when he acted cute. Sure enough a few seconds later, a very sorry Uzumaki slinked into the kitchen and mumbled his apologies - even though she could tell that he didn't mean it. Nethertheless she handed him a sandwich in good will and a smile was on his face again and he was away, babbling about was had happened to him that day and such. For a long while, Sakura nodded in all the right places and enjoyed the way he made her mood shoot up until they were laughing together.

Gradually, the sky outside began to darken into the evening. Naruto had picked up the nearest crappy chick flick and announced that they should watch it together. Sakura snorted and nodded as Naruto shoved the DVD into the player and resumed his spot next to her.

She made sure to watch his awkward facial expressions as the movie played on. During one paticular romantic scene, she noted that he moved a little closer and winded his arm around the back of her seat.

"Hang on - she _just s_aid that she liked that Daniel guy.. And now she's saying that she likes Mark? What the crap?" Naruto turned to her with an adorably puzzled expression, Sakura couldn't help herself throwing the boy into a hug and patting his hair.

"Welcome to the world of a woman." She giggled.

He rolled his eyes. "Not _all _women, Sakura. Luckily - I know you inside out!" He looked as if he expected some kind of compliment for it. Sakura rose her carefully plucked eyebrows and gave him a fleeting look.

"So you've been spying on _me _now, Naruto?"

At her words, he flushed a handsome shade of red and moved his gaze back to the film again, wincing everytime Sakura made a tiny body movement. She inwardly giggled at the blonde and moved a little closer into the crook of his arm. He was very, very warm.

The film ended finally and the world outside was pitch black, as Sakura tugged the curtains across the double windows and flicked off the television. She turned with her hands on her hips towards Naruto - to find that he'd fallen asleep, head lolling to the side and quietly breathing. She cocked her head to the side and admired his adorable sleeping face.

"I guess spending the night on the couch would be okay." She whispered and carefully slid a pillow under his soft head and a blanket over his musclely frame. He sighed happily and moved a little further into the material as he slept. He opened his mouth a little - showing the perfect teeth between his lips. Sakura opted to leave the boy in peace and go get some sleep herself, after all - they would both have to be up early for the festival the next day.

Sakura leaned over Naruto once more and planted a chaste kiss upon his forehead - which met her lips with the kind of warmth that he always seemed to radiate to her with his beautiful smile.

"I love you."


	2. Sasuke

Sasuke Uchiha.

Why was it, that whenever his very name was mentioned, people would instandly hush up their words and quickly move onto a new topic on conversation. Was it that he was so _repulsive _that people felt that they had to move their gazes to the ground whenever he walked past and quickly sneak a glance at him behind his back. Why did they feel the need to swap rumours around of his family's demise and his demon bastard brother. He even recalled hearing of a few people talk about how it was so 'mysterious' that Sasuke was basically the last man standing.

Thinking about these absurd rumours, made Sasuke clench his fists and feel the urge to punch everyone who did so much as look at him funny. Instead, he opted to plaster on a stoic expression and shove his hands in his pockets and continue making his way to the Hokage building at the far end of the street.

Nethertheless, he could never stop analysing everything.

_What are they thinking about me now? _He thought bitterly, catching the eyes of a few teenage girls that were helping to put up the last of the festival decorations on the ramen stall. When the blonde tall one spotted him, she had quickly nudged her friends and they all stared at him with the same pitiful look. Sasuke resisted the urge to throw up and quickened his pace.

"Oi!" Called a voice from behind him. Sasuke turned slowly to find a familiar face grinning stupidly at him.

"Naruto, I haven't got time today," Sasuke sighed. "Tsunade called out on me to go see her."

Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke's eyes to the girls still milling around the ramen stall. He turned back to his friend - somewhat trying to suss the situation up.

"Want to get laid?"

He could have _punched _him. He really could.

Naruto must have seen the spark of anger in Sasuke's eyes and opted to keep his opinions to himself from then on. Sasuke turned and began to walk again, with the blonde skipping at his side. Sasuke couldn't help but notice that both of them seemed to be the same height and build now. The only difference between them really, was the adoring looks that girls flashed Naruto and the strange ones that Sasuke recieved. Oh how things had changed drastically from their Genin days..

"Hey Sasuke - you're still coming with us to the festival, right?"

Sasuke had to admit that the question caught him a little off guard. He recalled Sakura moaning at him sometime last week about how he needed to be more 'social' and actually know _about _his friends, instead of not giving a crap about them. He thought it was pointless to socialize with anyone else but Team 7 and the Hokage - small, neat, neccessary people.

"..Yeah," Sasuke hedged. "I got threatened to by your girlfriend."

Naruto flushed and narrowed his eyes. "She's not my girlfriend, for the last time!"

Sasuke merely smirked and chose to say nothing. The whole damn _village _knew about how his two closest friends were into each other, both too stupid and scared to admit it though. It made him laugh really at how much time they had already wasted of their lives just.. _Looking _at each other. He couldn't understand why neither had grappled at the chance yet. Especially since in their line of work - they were not expected to live long anyway.

Sasuke stopped at the edge of the bustling market to see a familiar pink head nearby at the corner of the square. Naruto stopped babbling for a few moments and watched with Sasuke, as Sakura cursed as her shopping bags split slightly. She quickly rounded up the missing items and was on her way to what looked like the direction of her apartment. Naruto flashed an apologetic smile to Sasuke.

"Sorry dude - mind if we catch up later? I'm gonna go hang out with Sakura for a bit. See what's new." He shrugged and Sasuke gave a curt nod for a yes and watched the blonde skip across the market and disappear down the same side street that Sakura had moments before. Sasuke quickly checked his watch and cursed - he was late.

Diving in and out of the excited villagers, he managed to slip through a few side alleys and over a couple of residential buildings, until the Hokage building loomed over him like a dark shadow. He quickly skidded into reception and ignored the looks that a few people gave him, sitting in the waiting room. He slouched up to the receptionist's desk and tapped impatiently on the table.

Kana - the blonde receptionist greeted him with a warm smile and her usual _"Afternoon Mr. Uchiha." _She quickly tapped away at her computer and directed Sasuke up the nearest flight of stairs that led to Tsunade's office and the private hospital wing.

Sasuke effortlessly directed himself around the many hallways and staircases - he'd been here too many times to count! A few people greeted him along the way with hurried smiles and short waves, to which he politely returned and soon found himself pummeling the smart, mahoghany door of the Hokage's office.

"Come in." Said a tired voice.

Sasuke pushed open the doors and made his way inside. Almost at once, he was hit by the horrible stentch of alcohol and cigarettes. The room was slightly fogged with stale smoke and there was a tonne of paperwork stacked up on the desk and at the corner of the room. The curtains hadn't even been opened yet and the room was dark and lonely. A figure moved on the chair behind the desk and Tsunade stood up to greet the boy.

"A little late," she scolded. "But it's fine."

Sasuke took a seat in front of the desk. "Naruto caught up with me." Was all the excuse he needed. Tsunade nodded in agreement and understanding. She pushed some paperwork aside and helped herself to another cigarette, whilst Sasuke watched in silence.

"Sorry for calling you in on your day off," she apologised and rubbed her tired eyes. "But we have a bit of a situation here and I'm pretty sure that you'll understand.." She nibbled on her lip a little - a trait that Sakura had also inhabited from her.

Sasuke nodded slowly. "What is it?"

Tsunade decided to pause and take a long drag from her cigarette and blew small smoke rings from her mouth. She indicated to the paperwork beside her and sighed. "I've been held down all day - due to new intel that a source has provided us with. According to our best ANBU members - this intel is almost one hundred percent accurate - which means we have to act quickly and efficiently.. This is where _you _come in."

Sasuke inwardly smirked - he'd been aching for something to do for a while now. Missions had been sparse in the past few months.

"What's the mission?"

Tsunade stared into his obsidian orbs with her own blank ones. "We've gathered information that Mr. Itachi Uchiha has been seen on the border of the Fire Country..-" She looked as if she was planning to say more, but the look on Sasuke's face made her snap her mouth shut.

In truth, he didn't really know what to feel. One on side, was his whole 'revenge' thing that made him want to rip the man's head clean from his body and turn the evidence to cinders with his fireball jutsu. On the other hand - was the absolute tiredness that wore down his soul from being haunted by his _bastard _brother all of his life. Would murdering his brother change the way the villagers looked at him? Or would it help their suspicions even more to determine that he _himself _was nothing but a cold blooded murderer.

Life was cruel.

Emotion and memories racked his mind until he felt a serious migrane coming on. He was very aware that neither he or Tsunade had spoken allowed for a little while. He was somewhat grateful though that she didn't want to push him for answers or some psychology crap to 'how he was feeling'.

"I'll go." He spat through gritted teeth. Tsunade nodded slowly and closed her eyes.

"I'm giving you _three days_, do you understand? That's all I can give you before the village elders get on my ass to send a whole ANBU team in. Is that clear?" She didn't have to voice the last words on her mind. He understood perfectly through the serious look in her eyes, that he must eliminate his brother - whatever the costs. Whatever the outcome. He _had _to win.

Tsunade provided him with the coordinates to Itachi's location and gave the boy one last, fleeting look. "Will you be okay?"

"Dying is for fools." He whispered harshly and rose quickly from the chair and hurried out of the room as fast as his legs would allow. His mind felt as if it had been through a blender - thoughts and flashes were everywhere. Everyone looked at him fearfully as he stomped back through the waiting room and threw open the doors to outside. He began running over buildings and rooftops towards his lonely home in preparation. He needed every weapon he stored away. All that remained in his head, was a clear picture of his brother staring back at him coldly, that fateful night.

He clenched his fists.

"I _hate _you."


	3. Naruto

Naruto tossed his bag to the side of the doorway as soon as he entered his apartment. He wasn't bothered too much about the mess. Although he figured that Sakura would be _pissed_. She always seemed to turn up at his place on Sundays to bug him about it and end up cleaning up anyway - plus it always made him smile a lot.

Sakura...

Naruto made a beeline for the fridge and frowned at how depressingly empty the shelves were inside. His eyes fell upon a tub of half-eaten takeaway ramen and a bottle of rather lumpy-looking milk. Just looking at it, made his stomach churn slightly.

Maybe it would be a good excuse to go over to Sakura's place and whine for food...

He shook his head roughly. "Idiot," he said allowed. "You can't depend on her all the time." He took another longing look at the empty fridge and decided to pick up his orange and black jacket and head out of the door once again. Perhaps he could beg some food from the Ichiraku ramen stall?

The sky outside was bright but slightly bitter. It also didn't help that there were _masses _of people gathered out on the streets to help put up last minute decorations for the festival and crowds of girls, gossiping about what they were going to wear tomorrow and who their dates were. Naruto noticed that some of them looked his way and flashed him flirtacious smiles. He politely waved back, but only the image of the pink-haired girl, stayed solidly in his mind.

_Sasuke needs a girlfriend, _he smirked. _But with that angry face - he'll scare all of them off. _For a split second, he thought about setting up his best friend with some random pretty blonde girl as a blind date. But he quickly dismissed that thought at the state of what Sasuke would be in. He grinned widely.

Naruto decided to turn left down a quiet street that led to the academy that everyone used to attend as kids. The memories of his childhood flashed quickly through his mind - the images twirled around with eachother and always seemed to settle on the memory of being alone on 'his' swing. The swing that stayed with him throughout the hard times and the swing that no one else dared to touch because the 'demon-boy' touched it.

He recalled a particular incident on his tenth birthday. Whilst he had been skipping down to the nearest stall to spend his birthday money, a group of academy kids that he saw every day, stopped him in the street and beat him to a pulp - took his money and ran off as fast as they could. He remembered vividly, getting up off the dirty ground and seeing witnesses turning round and walking away from the scene. Of course back then, he didn't understand as to why nobody wanted to be his friend and why they dreated him like crap.. It was part of the reason that he decided to be loud and _force _attention.

Naruto sighed and brushed the hair away from his eyes, peering upwards into the glorious sunlight. It was starting to get a little hotter now that he had passed the academy and found himself on Market Street.

His eyes lazily scanned the crowds for anyone he would recognise as he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked on.

Over buy the clothing and accessory section - hoardes and hoardes of women and children were busy gossiping on what were the biggest 'hits' in fashion for the season and the festival. In a small group next to them, were their anxious looking husbands talking amongst each other about the rumours of the entertainment and bands that were supposed to be booked for tomorrow night.

Naruto's eye's landed hungrily upon the heavily dressed up ramen stall - where people still seemed to be working busily on it. Walking grumpily past the stall was a slender, young, raven haired man.

"Oi!" Naruto yelled and grinned as Sasuke turned round and greeted him with an unhappy look. Regardless, Naruto ignored the Uchiha's usual gloom and made the effort to be cheery netherless.

"Naruto, I haven't got time today," Sasuke sighed. "Tsunade called out on me to go see her."

Naruto nodded and understanding and followed his eyesight to where a group of girls were still dressing up his beloved restaurant, giggling and having fun with each other. He turned back to his friend and wondered vaguely why Sasuke looked so intense.

"Want to get laid?" Naruto ventured. By the evil glare that Sasuke shot his why, he determined that it was obviously the wrong answer. He inwardly shrugged and followed Sasuke and he began to walk again. Sasuke stayed quiet for a long while, but it was okay - Naruto decided to tell him about his short trip to the academy and how much he noticed how it _changed _since their days there.

"Hey Sasuke - you're still coming with us to the festival, right?" Naruto suddenly remembered to ask - after conversation after conversation of Sakura bugging him to ask the Uchiha.

Sasuke looked mildly shocked at the question but ended up nodding awkwardly. "..Yeah, I got threatened to by your girlfriend."

Naruto felt his cheeks flush red and his anger spiking. "She's not my girlfriend, for the last time!" Even he had to admit - that the contsant 'Sakura' jabs from his friends and Kakashi were _not _helping him one little bit. He bit his lip and resisted the urge to tell the Uchiha to go and mind his own damn business. He watched Sasuke smirk slowly and stop walking.

It was the flick of pink that caught Naruto's attention.

His eyes immediately snapped to where he'd seen the shade. They focused on a pink-haired woman fiddling about with her groceries, with a fed up look on her face. He felt his heart shimmer a little as Sakura's perfect face came into view over the bustling crowd - she still seemed so perfect.. So gentle, even when pissed off.

As she began to disappear into the crowd again, Naruto absentmindedly smiled back at Sasuke and gabbled some pathetic half-assed excuse to him and set off after her before she disappeared altogether. Although he supposed that it wouldn't matter too much. Her apartment was closeby anyway.

He entered the smart apartment complex and headed to the third floor and to the end of the ever-familiar hallway that he'd been to, so many time before. He rapped hard on Sakura's door and flashed her an excited smile when she opened up to reveal herself.

"Sakura!"

She clapped her hands over her ears at the intense noise of him for a few seconds. When the pain had subsided, she gave him one of her gorgeous reserved smiles.

He changed his expression to a serious one."Why aren't you out enjoying yourself?" He demanded and folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Are you ok?"

She looked suprised for a second, and smiled and patted his head fondly. "Don't worry about me. I'm ok."**  
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Hearing that made him feel a little better - even though he wanted so badly to badger her on and on about what could possibly be worrying her. Even s_he _had to admit that she absolutely sucked at keeping her own emotions to herself. All he had to do was see a little bead of sweat on her forehead or the small crease between her arched eyebrows, to tell that something was up. It had been going on for days now, and it was bothering him.

He opted to keep the subject away from conversation for a little while - hoping to death that she would trust him enough to bring it up herself and enlighten him a little. After talking for a long time and talking about they days they had - and a few moments in which Sakura _deliberately _tried to make him blush, by leaning on his shouler - they ended up watching a film on her plushy couch.

What ever the film was - Naruto didn't really give a damn. He could barely remember the storyline and the characters - let alone the plot twist and the big ending.. With Sakura so close to him - that he could pratically name the s_hower gel _that she'd used that morning, it proved very hard to concentrate on much else. Even everytime he so much as blinked... Her face was constantly haunting him.

_I sound like a stalker. _He inwardly sighed. At the corner of his eye, Sakura was watching him closely with an amused expression.

The film wore on and on - Naruto had grown long bored of the antics that were happening on screen and the way the characters were so _childish _when it came to the romance parts. His eyelids started to feel heavier and heavier at the night wore on and the room had a pleasent temperature to it. He decided to close his eyes for a few seconds.

When he opened his eyes again, the lights were out and his ears were met with silence.

"Oh man." He yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. From the darkness of the room, he assumed that it was around three or four in the morning - which would explain the fact that he was still dead tired. Oh god.. What must have Sakura thought of him falling asleep in the middle of a movie like a little girl?

He inwardly face palmed and sighed dejectedly.

At least Sakura had provided him with the pillow and a blanket though. He moved his feet a little to discover that they seemed to be weighed down into the cushions. He frowned and leaned forward to investigate, and was met with a flurry of pink hair and a sleeping girl on his ankles.

"Idiot." He smiled gently and carefully eased out his legs from her grasp. He leaned down and swung her sleeping form effortlessly into her arms and quickly rose the stairs and pushed open the door with his foot, to her dark bedroom. He set her down on the bed - and immediately missed the feel of her delicate skin on his. Despite been dragged upstairs, she didn't seem to have woken up even a little bit and continued on dreaming.

Naruto pulled the covers over her body and gingerly perched on the edge of her bed next to her. Before he could control it, his hand was stroking through her hair carefully until she sub-consciously snuggled up into the palm of his hand. He thought about how much she owned his very heart, soul, mind.. How she captivated him with one word and one look. How much that she didn't know that he loved her more than anything else in this world. He then thought of Jiraiya and how easily the white haired man could pick up any woman he wanted and get them to fall in love with him, with a few small words. Naruto glared bitterly into the darkness.

"I envy you."


End file.
